A Covert Maneuver

"Given the current situation, let me be upfront. During today's attack, we have 12 wounded, and only 12 people left who can still fight. There are some nomads outside, but we can't reach them. To be honest, many of them have gone solo from the family, and I don't trust them."

Inside the tent, Saul was speaking.

Besides Saul, Panam from the Bright family was there, along with Navi and Cedric from the Red Ocher family, three people from Leo's side, and the fixer, Dakota.

It was time to summarize the situation.

Navi spoke up, "We have 16 people, but aside from smuggling and petty theft, they don't have much experience."

"Do they trust you?"

"No question about it."

"That's good enough, plus you've got someone experienced beside you."

But 28 people felt like too few, to be honest.

Worse still, there was a shortage of supplies.

Cedric pointed to a monitor nearby, "We've finished checking the supplies. As for weapons, we can only guarantee that everyone will have a gun—what kind of gun is another question. Ammo stocks are only enough for a round or two of fighting.

As for supplies, they'll last us four days—if we ration carefully. I don't know how much more the fixer can get us, though. The last shipment has been stuck in Reno for a while, as you all know. Even if it reaches the south, it won't make it through."

The Bright and Red Ocher families were among the first scouting groups to arrive near Night City. Most of the Aldecaldos were still operating along the border between New America and Mexico. With internal family divisions, communication between tribes wasn't as tight as it used to be.

Lacking manpower, firepower, and supplies.

All eyes turned to Leo.

Leo thought for a moment and said, "On our side, one vehicle, one sniper rifle, three people—that's it."

Ajax and Satara had both been wrecked in the biotechnica tower, and they didn't bring them out.

The Nekomata's chamber had just one round left, Yinglong's ammo was all used up, and Jackie and V had just a few magazines left for their handguns.

Aside from Leo, who had recovered somewhat, Jackie and V were in worse shape compared to when they had fought in the biotechnica tower.

In other words, they were dirt poor.

After hearing this, Dakota said, "I have some regular ammo and grenades left, but you'll have to figure out the supplies on your own.

The lockdown's been stricter since yesterday. The fixers in the city can't help, and now, only corporate convoys can deliver goods. Anything else gets confiscated."

Leo pondered, then said, "But I heard there was a cyberpsycho incident with Militech yesterday."

"Yes, there was. That's why some checkpoints are now manned by a mix of NCPD and Militech personnel. Militech is hell-bent on eliminating nomads.

And it's not just the nomads they're after."

Clearly, Militech suspected that Leo and his group were hiding in the Badlands and believed there was a high chance they were right.

Initially, Militech thought the trio had a higher chance of escaping Night City, but yesterday's events had made them more cautious.

In Militech's view, no one would normally be this bold—but these three reckless thieves just might be.

This lockdown had left Dakota in a bind—at this rate, they'd have to scavenge guns from junkyards.

So, they all looked to Leo for a solution.

"I can actually buy weapons and equipment, and they're not junkyard scraps, they're high-quality gear."

"So, you're planning to get stuff from Dogtown? Can you pull that off?"

"I'm sure."

"And transport?"

"I'll find someone from the city."

"But you're in the Badlands right now. How will you find someone to help from the city?" Dakota felt the more she dealt with Leo, the more puzzled she became.

This new legend of Night City—his words and actions were so hard to understand. "Find someone from the city"—if he could get into the city, why was he still hanging around here?

But Leo didn't explain further. "I'll get the equipment and supplies here. You all just focus on the mission."

Leo pulled out a detachable chip from his neck and inserted it into the computer. A map of Night City appeared on the screen.

"MoorE Technologies transports a batch of scrap equipment to the junkyard every Thursday afternoon. High-tech equipment."

The route was clearly marked on the map, leading west of the Pacifica region, southeast of Santo Domingo.

Santo Domingo was separated from this massive junkyard by a gigantic dam, but if you stood in Santo Domingo, you could still see sewage seeping into the city.

The transport convoy would drive over the dam, heading straight to the junkyard where they disposed of high-tech equipment.

"We'll ambush the convoy on the dam." Leo pointed at the dam. "We'll ram the vehicle off the road."

On the other side of the dam was Santo Domingo, a place almost no one wanted to stay in—conveniently, it was also where the Roscann Arms Depot was located.

This meant Rosanna would be the first to access the materials, without needing to set up anything in advance.

Saul raised an eyebrow, "Ram it off the road? I thought we were robbing them, not helping them complete the scrapping process?"

"Let's just say I need some rare materials from the machines, and those materials aren't easy to destroy."

Leo wasn't the same Leo who had sought Martin's help. The data stolen from the biotechnica tower was enough for him to piece together a DNA maintenance device, and he needed some rare materials from the original machines that he didn't know how to manufacture.

Getting the entire machine would be great, but the rare high-tech materials would be enough for his purposes.

Everyone exchanged glances.

Eventually, Panam spoke first, "So, we're robbing scraps and piecing together high-tech equipment from them? This plan sounds... unreliable!"

"But it's the safest way. As you all just said, we don't have enough firepower.

According to this plan, all we need to do is ram the vehicle, then get out of there—

Once the attack starts, Militech forces will rush to the scene, and we'll pull the equipment and supplies from these lightly defended areas.

Then we'll have gear and supplies, while Militech will think we just botched a robbery of a scrap vehicle—

Afterward, we hit them hard, catching their henchmen off guard.

Militech's lockdown is tough, but expensive. Let's see how long they want to keep it up after we take down their men."

When Leo finished, everyone mulled over the plan. Only Dakota noticed a small detail:

On the map, Leo had marked the defensive forces near the dam, and among them, there were not only Militech forces but also the NCPD.

"Militech will chase us down like dogs after a bone, but what about the NCPD? Will they let a vehicle full of weapons and supplies leave?"

"They'll let it through. I've got a contact. Any more questions?"

That "contact" was Regina—this fixer had access to cyberpsycho intel and could arrange NCPD internal contracts for Leo, showing she had connections deep within.

With the situation Leo had set up, a little manipulation would be enough to get the supplies out—NCPD officers were much easier to deceive than Militech personnel.

Everyone shook their heads.

The plan was actually quite solid, at least in Saul's eyes.

He had already decided to fight back, but in his heart, he still didn't want a direct confrontation with the corporations.

As for Panam, this plan was right up her alley—hit the corporations hard and strike the gang down.

Navi had no experience, and Cedric had no objections—he had a personal vendetta against the gang.

Seeing there were no further objections, Leo turned to Mitch, "Finally—if you still doubt me, we can start small. We'll begin with the drones we captured today. Mitch, help me assemble them—everyone else, get ready for recon tomorrow. We'll act three days from now in the afternoon. If there's anything else to add, now's the time."

Mitch raised his hand, "Speaking of which—the Wraiths chasing us today seemed quite formidable.

He had a pair of extremely refined bionic arms that moved like real ones—way better than the one I've got. Shouldn't we be cautious? After all, not just anyone can afford gear like that."

Leo raised an eyebrow and looked at V, who nodded in agreement. "He seemed like their leader. When he heard gunshots, he used one of his subordinates as a meat shield, and before getting into the car, he even kicked one of his men flying. Definitely one of those ruthless scumbags."

The Wraiths were generally full of scum, but that didn't say much.

Still, knowing was better than not knowing.

Cedric suddenly spoke, "Biodyne Corporation seems to make products like that. I've seen the ads. Can you pull up the visual data so I can take a look at this guy?"

Mitch nodded and retrieved the data from his cyber-eye. At the time, Mitch had been particularly wary of that big guy, who was both sneaky and brutal.

The recorded footage flickered slightly due to Mitch's condition at the time, but the enemy's appearance was still recognizable.

In the video, the big guy kicked Scorpion hard in the face, sending him crashing heavily to the ground. Watching this, everyone clenched their fists.

But Cedric remained calm—or rather, it seemed like he was trying his best to control his emotions.

When the man's face appeared on Mitch's cyber-eye display—

"Hah, the coward!"

Cedric recognized a face he would never forget for the rest of his life.

"Bowen Ramirez. That bastard who escaped from Red Ocher."

He spat the name through gritted teeth, his breathing heavy, his mind flashing back to the burning nomad camp and the corpses scattered everywhere.

Nearly everyone in the Wraiths had a deep, blood-stained hatred toward legitimate nomad families.

Leo nodded slightly, "You'll soon have the chance to settle the score."